This One Thing... Panconesi

Marco Panconesi planned to be an archaeologist before pivoting to fashion design, and it is the melding of those two disciplines – one dedicated to rediscovering the past, the other focused on pre-empting the future – that shapes his jewellery brand Panconesi’s idiosyncratic aesthetic; creations that look like artefacts that once belonged to an alien queen. 

The brand’s best pieces are the ones that most fully embrace their sci-fi quirkiness, such as the Double Kilter earrings that can be worn as elegant hanging hoops or cuffed to orbit around the ear, or the Vacanza necklace with its misshapen two-toned pearls that look like psychedelic raindrops suspended along the neckline. The brand’s recent launch – in collaboration with south-London fashion label KNWLS – includes the Galax ring, with stones that float off the body like a constellation of gemstones.

The prices, however – at least relative to other jewellery lines – are not stratospheric. A chunky ear cuff can be purchased for €108 and if that’s too steep, the delightful Encyclopaedia Posters depicting rainbow gems start at a more accessible €33 – and are the perfect jewels to adorn your walls. 

Mary Cleary, a London-based New Yorker, is the beauty editor at design publication Wallpaper* Magazine